Eight Weeks Complete, Eight Weeks to Go

Wow, we are halfway through our student teaching internships! Where did the time go?!? I have had so many crazy, fun days that I can't believe that we only have eight weeks to go! This journey has been stressful, but worth every ounce of it. 

Highlights
This week I had observed Kaitlin Liszka at Bermudian Springs which was a great visit if you are interested in learning more about that visit click here. Upon my return to Solanco on Tuesday, it was a pretty normal week. I had a few disciplinary actions to take, but that all a part of the job right? My students are well behaved for the most part which is nice. One key thing that happened this week was working on the fly with little to no lesson plans since my original idea didn't work out. Those lessons actually turned out really well, and I think that I did a good job of staying calm during the chaos. I am looking forward to next week!

Questions

• How do you handle discipline when multiple students are involved in the misbehavior/disruption of class?
• How often do you have to write a disciplinary action that is sent to the administration? 

From Lancaster Co to Adams Co

Today I had visited Ms. Liszka at Bermudian Springs High School. The purpose of my visit was to observe her teach to learn from another cohort member as well as help her find strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the day I had observed her teach Ag Business, Ag Mech 1 and 2, Animal Science, and Greenhouse.

Highlights
During her Ag Mech 2 class, she had taught about compression ratios, and how it will affect engine performance as well as the power delivered to the PTO. Ms. Liszka's forte in animal science had shown through as she taught conversions of calories to Mcal/kg. Regardless of her tactics to get her students to answers why it is important for the conversion, they didn't know how to answer the question. They ended being saved by the fire drill so they did not have to figure out the answer today.

Furthermore, during her Ag Mech 1 class, I was assisting her in teaching welding and oxy-acetylene cutting since she has a larger class. It was neat to bring my own experience into her classroom to help her students learn a little more about welding or cutting processes. I am currently teaching welding at Solanco, and utilizing what I have learned in another school was a great way to spend the day. 

As the visit came to a close, I was impressed by her strategies to get her student involved in the lessons she was teaching as well as her classroom management techniques to reign in the students that were not on task. 

Solanco FFA @ACES

On February 22nd and 23rd, Solanco FFA had attended the ACES conference hosted by the Pennsylvania FFA. We had four students, one advisor, and a student-teacher, travel to Harrisburg, PA for the event.

The students that we had come to the event were excited to interact with new people from across the state as well as Virginia. Once they had finished their workshops, the had mentioned all the cool things they had learned like conversation skills and networking with people/businesses. They also made new friendships that will last for a lifetime. 

While the students had attended their workshops, I also attended an Ag Business workshop through Penn State Center for Professional Personnel Development. In this workshop, we learned about balance sheets, income statements, business entities, and business planning. Going through this workshop gave me ideas to bring back to the classroom as I soon enter my financial unit in Ag Business Operations. 

This weekend was a great time to see what it is like to be an advisor/mentor instead of being in that student role. My cooperating teacher had given me full reign of instructing the students as well as doing evening room checks. It is neat to look back at all my experiences as a student and state FFA officer and understand the principles and ideas that were shared by my FFA advisors. I am excited to continue my journey with Solanco. Looking back at everything I have done, experienced, or achieved it was all worth the hard work in order to make it to this point in my life. 

Where Did This Week Go?

What a week! Between traveling to Penn State, being observed, and picking up a full schedule of courses, this week had flown by in a blink of an eye (wait that rhymed)! Crazy to imagine that I am at a full schedule when it feels like just yesterday I started teaching one course.

Highlights
I have picked up a full schedule so I am tackling this whole student teaching experience head-on at this point. I am enjoying every bit of this experience even though there is daily stress of did I plan enough, am I saying the right things, and am I actually getting through to the students. On Friday this week, I had instructed students on planing their rough-cut lumber which was an interesting task. If I had to go back and reinstruct that process, I would not only teach the process in the classroom but also demonstrate what I want to see in the shop before the machine is turned on. That should alleviate any confusion they would have. 

Things to Improve
I have noticed a few weaknesses in my methods of teaching. Sometimes I do not always explain the why and that is a major downfall to my lessons because they may not understand the purpose of the material we had just covered. I really need to do a better job of reading my students. I am struggling in figuring out what is the best way to read their minds and determine if they are paying attention to me or not.

Check back in next week to hear about my experience.

What Week Is It?

Teaching, demonstrations, planning, and observations. This week was jam-packed full of excitement at Solanco. As we move into our seventh week in our student teaching internships, the more intense it gets.

Teaching

I am getting more comfortable being the leader of the classroom since I have several weeks under my belt. I am feeling more confident in my abilities even if my content knowledge is weak. I look forward to week number 7 at Solanco. I am hoping to improve my humbleness and admit when I do not know the answer to certain questions.

Demonstrations

Oxy-acetylene. What more do I say? It was a joy getting to do a demonstration on how to set up and shut down an oxy-acetylene system on Friday while Dr. Ewing was there observing me teach. It went well even though it was loud due to the ventilation system that had to be on for safety purposes.

Planning

I have found that planning for 6 courses is very difficult if you are also trying to do everything else a teacher should be doing. Some days it is crazy trying to plan out all my lessons in advance so I do not fall behind. Little by little I am making progress on how to plan effectively and still have time for other things.

Observations

On Friday, Dr. Ewing had come to Solanco to observe me for a day. We had great conversations about how to improve as well as moving forward what things will look like. I am excited that I am nearly halfway through student teaching. I am enjoying every bit of it. I am also excited to be back at Solanco in the fall for the 2020-2021 school year!

High Five for Week Five

Rounding out week five of student teaching is a crazy thing to think about! Only 11 more to go! This week has been great even with a few unforeseen tasks thrown into the mix. However, it is "high fives" all around!

Striving for Uniqueness
As I came into this week, wanting to be my own self as a teacher rather than coming off fake. Being here for five weeks, I have started to come out of my "shell" to be that unique teacher for my students. I'm trying to implement my own ideas into the classroom to investigate if it works better than what I have been doing for the past couple of weeks. Along with uniqueness in myself, I have been trying to pull uniqueness out of my students to show that yes we are all different but we can come together. It hasn't always gone to plan, but then again I am new to this. That's why I am striving not thriving.

Connecting = Influence
This week during the faculty meeting the administration had mentioned that teachers should try there best to connect with each student in their classes through certain strategies over time. I had taken some time during a project time to get to know a student that was ahead of the rest. I could notice that even though we only talked for a little that connection meant something to that student. Since I made that connection, influence is just around the corner to push that student in the right direction.

Motivation
My teaching cohort and I are nearly 1/3 of the way through our internships. One piece of motivation for all of us as we prepare for a full schedule is in the words of Thomas Edison, "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."  As we move into our next several weeks we cannot give up. I shared this quote with my Power and Machinery Tech class this morning. Yeah, it is cheesy, but to me, quotes mean a lot. 

Questions

• When teaching a full schedule of courses, when do you find time to plan thoroughly?
• How has making connections with your students changed your career?
• What have you found works best with keeping students on track during group projects?